The WanderPod, satellite internet and WiFi for disasters
posted October 14th 2004 8:21AM
Look, it's not so much that the WanderPod is overkill—which it is—it's just mainly that their scope is way too small
for this application. It's a trailer with a generator, satellite internet connection, and open WiFi access intended to
be deployed in disaster situations, right? But there are a couple of nagging points: first, while we appreciate the
gesture, we think most people will agree that the phone infrastructure is way more important than end-user internet
access in times of emergency. Second, WiFi has very short range (we so don't believe their WiFi sends and
receives up to 2,000 feet away), so WanderPods would have to be deployed all over, and at $80,000 apiece, that's a
spicy meatball. Third, satellite would be nigh useless in the case of bad weather; for instance, the stormy aftermath
of a hurricane would render the sat connection on a WanderPod useless. Yeah, their heart is in the right place, but
this is one instance in which a mesh WiMax network or even a proprietary technology would be best suited for
delivery.
[Via Wired News]
Having recently endured three hurricanes here in Central Florida I have some comments. This may be well intentioned but it's also useless. We had widespread power outages during the hurricanes. Battery power quickly ran out and there was no way to recharge them. Nonrechargeable batteries also quickly died. What we did have were devoted to emergency radios and lights. Emergency workers used cell phones for communications where they could. People either had power out for a relatively show time (one or two days) in which case they could wait to check their email or they had power out for a week or two in which case their home was probably heavily damaged or destroyed so who cares about internet access. On the satellite part of this I would say that people may be surprised at how quickly even the slow moving hurricanes passed. A hurricane may take weeks to approach but in a day or so they have passed and the sun is back out and people are dealing with the devastation. Probably not thinking about checking their email. One last note. The phones kept working mostly through all the hurricanes with only very short outages. Even in areas with long power outages the phones were working.
While I agree that this is poorly thought out- I disagree on the telephone infrastructure being more important/effective in an emergency than the internet.
During 9/11 the phones where jammed throughout all of Manhattan. The only way I could get ahold of anyone was via IM and email. The internet kept working. The phone circuits were overloaded. IM was a far better better medium to check the status of friends and families.
...in very specific circumstances. Suppose, say, you're running a government relief operation in a remote area with little or no infrastructure; you've got a staff of 20 or so people and they all need 'net access. Something like this would be perfect.
Admittedly, I never find myself in that situation. But hey, it would also be a very popular installation at Burning Man, and I can imagine myself in that situation.
They did have a WiFi-by-satellite phonebooth set up at Burning Man this year...and it didn't cost $80 G's.
As an aside, has anyone noticed how similar their logo is to the Women's Network logo? http://www.wnetwork.com/
http://events.internet2.edu/2003/fall-mm/demos.html#satellite
I know a company that deploys these solar units for a faction of the price. For 80g's you could have 4-6 units giving you better area coverage and if you need a Satellite connection for the backhaul it’s just a configuration add on. check the out. www.sitewatchsystems.com
Here in Cayman, we're STILL without power, nearly 5 weeks AFTER Ivan. A lot of people have generators running, so at this point it isn't TOO hard to get recharged. We actually deployed a sat phone/modem in the days following the storm, but it was too expensive to use for "casual" connections and personal emails (not that I didnt squeak out an email to my parents and a post to my website while 'testing' the link)
Two Internet cafes came back up about a week ago. No coffee (no water service yet) but had their hotspot hardware running off a generator.
The first couple days after the storm, people were trying to walk/bike/drive around looking for "spots" of cell phone coverage and making calls, but once the initial shock wore off, a public AP would have come in very handy... but not for $80k
It was about a month ago when I read about VSAT Systems helping out with the hurricane relief in Florida. VSAT Systems provides both mobile and portable emergency satellite Internet solutions. In the case in the press release the Florida Department of Financial Services used the satellite to keep their records in check. You can view the press release at http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Sep/1074512.htm.
Our firm P&L International, Inc. has been building and supplying this identical solution for two years. The name of the product is AutoGenSat. We sell it in a generator version and battery inverter configuration. Our bandwidths are scalable up to 11.75Mbps down and 5.75Mbps up. We have had great success in providing this product to Government, Construction and Media applications. This is not new technology and it is not $80,000.00! Our pricing ranges from $20,000 to the high end $33,000. If you would go to our website at www.pliinc.com you can familiarize yourself with the State-of-the-Art in this technology. We are currently hiring so if anyone has a personal interest in this technology please contact me directly.
Thank you in advance,
Paul Pazzaglini
President
P&L International, Inc.
704.843.4991